


Soulmate

by amtrak12



Series: Yatesbert Week 2017 [1]
Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Abby POV, F/F, Soulmate AU, Yatesbert Week, matchmaking agency
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 22:39:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11792958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amtrak12/pseuds/amtrak12
Summary: Abby didn't dwell much on who her soulmate could be. The agency insisted a person had to be at least twenty five years of age to sign up, and Abby had ages before she'd be twenty five. She chose instead to focus on her cryptid sightings and spectral hauntings, on recording and comparing data in order to prove other areas of the paranormal were as equally valid as soulmates.Then, she met Erin Gilbert.





	Soulmate

**Author's Note:**

> For the Yatesbert Week prompt "soulmate".

_Ten years since Abby had signed up at the agency. Thirteen since Erin had left._

Mathematical romance. Relationships predicted by algorithms born from the intersection of psychology and neuroscience. In the beginning, they were mocked by most academics, passed off as a pointless exercise more akin to astrological chart readings than anything truly scientific.They were rescued from obscurity by the public's youth in the 1960s, and by the time Abby was born in 1973, the mathematical had become the mystical.

Soulmates. Never the term used by the original research team, yet it was the word the public embraced. The algorithms worked -- that was the shocking thing. It was why the fringe science had gone from laughable to academic. The relationships predicted by the algorithms worked.

The proof was slow to build. It began as single anecdotes sprinkled here and there: rumors of success more rare than your neighbor winning the state lottery. Anecdote eventually piled onto anecdote and enticed more people to sign up. The more people who signed up, the more relationship matches could be made. That was the trick, you see. Ideal matches could only be made if your ideal match was in the database.

In the 1970s, fifteen percent of the eligible population between 25 and 40 years old had given their information to the relationship agency. After another decade, that number had tripled, and the number of successful matches had risen five-fold. The public was convinced. Science had unlocked the secret to soulmates.

Due to the changing times, Abby Yates grew up in two worlds. In the first, she learned about marriages, falling in love, high school sweethearts -- all the traditional relationships that had provided the backbone of the U.S. for centuries. In the second, she learned about connecting to someone, about destinies, about couples who actually seemed to like each other unlike the relationships she viewed on TV. It was the second world that captured her interest more.

Beyond couples genuinely liking each other, beyond the framing of the unknown into quantifiable data, what truly appealed to Abby, what truly set soulmate relationships apart from tradition came down to one simple twist: any two genders could be matched. 

Abby understood she was interested in girls and only girls by the time she reached middle school, and the revelation wasn't particularly shocking. Most of the students in her class were debating whether they would like a soulmate of their same gender. Though, in a sign tradition was a hard pole to knock down, most still ultimately decided they were heterosexual.

After confirming she only liked girls, Abby didn't dwell much on who her soulmate could be or what they would be like. The agency insisted a person had to be at least twenty five years of age to sign up in order to ensure the most accurate results, and Abby had ages before she'd be twenty five. She chose instead to focus on her cryptid sightings and spectral hauntings, on recording and comparing data in order to prove other areas of the paranormal and spiritual were as equally valid as soulmates.

Then, she met Erin Gilbert.

Erin, who had gained the reputation and nickname of Ghost Girl after being haunted as a child; Erin who hadn't rested at merely seeing a ghost, but had taken it upon herself to dig deep into the physics of the universe to explain why and how; Erin who was enthralled by Abby's collection of supernatural works; who eagerly listened to Abby's stories of fae and bog monsters and asked all the right questions; Erin who told hilariously witty jokes and made language blossom into life when she wrote; Erin who was better than Abby could have ever dreamed of and, oh, so beautiful -- 

Abby fell in love, hard and fast. She started thinking about the Somedays and Maybes even though she was still years away from the agency and soulmates.

In 1991, the government ended decades of debate by declaring matched soulmates to be just as legal as traditional marriages. All rights and protections granted to married couples were now granted to soulmates without requiring them to go through the marriage license application or a wedding ceremony -- all soulmates. Same-sex marriage had just been won.

Erin sat back on her dormitory bed and began imagining her future soulmate with renewed energy. Dark hair, nice smile, adventurous and open to the paranormal -- he. Always he.

Abby clenched her teeth and returned to her differential equations assignment. Erin still wasn't considering her. Erin still wanted a guy to be her soulmate.

They were college sophomores and 'soulmate' began to sound like a bitter word.

A year passed, then two. Graduate school started, and Abby felt Erin pull away. It was subtle at first -- a missed X-Files episode, distracted phone conversations -- but it grew more pronounced as the months ticked along. Soon, Erin had stopped suggesting new ideas for their research and had failed to return some of Abby's calls.

Fear sunk low into Abby's gut. Soulmates or not, she couldn't bear to lose Erin. In a last ditch attempt to reinspire her, Abby tried to publish their research they'd poured their heart and soul into, but it was too late. By the end of the school year, Erin was a name in the wind and the unrelenting echo of a ringing phone.

The next few years passed in a haze of desperate answering machine messages and a deep, unyielding ache. Abby didn't understand why Erin left, and Erin refused to provide answers. It felt like Abby could never move on.

Until, one day, she decided differently. On her twenty-fifth birthday, Abby awoke with a new determination and a stubborn fire that had been missing. She was ready to meet her new partner. She was ready to join forces with them and take the parainvestigative world by storm to prove everyone -- one person -- wrong.

No match.

Abby tried not to feel let down as she left the agency. Even after decades, not every adult had signed up for a soulmate, and there was the age requirement. Abby had always been one of the older students in her class. Maybe her soulmate wasn't twenty-five yet.

Days turned to weeks turned to months. It was like waiting for _her_ to finally call back all over again, and Abby grew frustrated. After a year, she chose to stop caring. If her soulmate showed up, great! If not, well Abby had better things to do.

She made up the time she lost to turmoil and completed her PhD. A new school opened in New York City, and she made sure to get in on the ground floor. The Higgins Institute of Science gave her a bona fide paranormal lab and enough funding to hire a partner if she could find a qualified person. Abby reconnected with the latest metaphysical publications and rejoiced in the opportunity to get her hands dirty with overnight stakeouts and test-driving the latest ghost-hunting equipment. She refused to look back… much. Life was turning out okay.

More years passed by. One night found Abby sitting at her lab desk long past dinner time. She had just rejected another batch of applicants looking to join her lab (all Ghost Jumper fans; not a single legitimate scientist in the bunch) and was considering going home when she received a phone call.

Two rings; five words.

"Hi, this is.... It's Erin."

The sound of her voice triggered the date in Abby's head. It was June first: Erin's birthday. She had just turned thirty-five.

"I don't know if you've heard... You should have received a phone call or maybe an email? ... No? Oh. Okay then, I guess I'll just come right out and tell you. I signed up with the agency today and was matched… to you. We’re soulmates. … Abby, are you still-- … Yes, I can do that. I can definitely do that. When-- … Okay. … Yes, I’ll see you then.”

Abby charged down the sidewalk. A stream of people were exiting the Starbucks she was aiming towards, and she barreled through them the way a snowplow barrels through lake effect snow. Her heart pounded in her throat. Inside, she scanned the cafe, not taking note of anything until she finds something to note -- someone.

Abby’s eyes locked with Erin’s. Her heart leapt towards the smile that slipped across Erin’s face.

It had taken ten years after she’d signed up with the agency for Abby to be matched. Thirteen years for Erin to call her back, but finally, soulmate sounded like a beautiful word.


End file.
